Meals from fast food restaurants contained 33 percent fewer calories than meals from full service restaurants, suggesting fast food restaurants should not be singled out when exploring ways to address overeating and the global obesity epidemic.
Binge Eating Disorder | Compulsive Overeating Disorder - Causes, Symptoms, Complications & Treatment
When a person overeats, he is unable to control his hunger pangs, while during an emotional/binge eating session, he is incapable of controlling his emotions.
When a person overeats, he is unable to control his hunger pangs, while during an emotional/binge eating session, he is incapable of controlling his emotions.
‘Eating out is now common around the world, but it is important to keep in mind that it is easy to overeat when a large restaurant meal is likely to be only one of several meals and snacks consumed that day.’
The study also found that meals from fast food restaurants contained 33 percent fewer calories than meals from full service restaurants, suggesting fast food restaurants should not be singled out when exploring ways to address overeating and the global obesity epidemic. The study was published today in The BMJ. "Fast food has been widely cited as an easy target for diet change because of its high calorie content; however, previous work by our team in the U.S. identified restaurant meals in general as an important target for interventions to address obesity," said first and co-corresponding author Susan B. Roberts, Ph.D., senior scientist and director of the Energy Metabolism Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University.
The study measured the calorie content of the most frequently ordered meals from 111 randomly selected full service and fast food restaurants in five countries--Brazil, China, Finland, Ghana and India--plus five worksite canteens in Finland where worksite canteens are common and often offer subsidized lunch options to support employee health. The data were compared with comparable existing information for U.S. restaurants.
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“We are indeed much more than what we eat, but what we eat can nevertheless help us to be much more than what we are”. - Adelle Davis
There are thousands out there battling ‘the bulge’. With childhood obesity on the rise even children are not spared. If your weight issues are threatening to weigh you down learn more about obesity by taking part in this quiz.
On average, fast food meals contained fewer calories than full service meals, 809 vs. 1317 calories/meal.
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Fast Foods
Fast foods contain as much as 500 calories per serve which is even higher than the calories that a lunch or dinner should provide. Majority of Indians have a flawed perception of healthy food options.
Fast foods contain as much as 500 calories per serve which is even higher than the calories that a lunch or dinner should provide. Majority of Indians have a flawed perception of healthy food options.
In all, 94 percent of meals from full service restaurants and 72 percent of fast food meals across all countries studied contained 600 calories or more. Three percent of meals from full service restaurants in four countries contained 2000 calories or more.
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Top Five Negative Calorie Foods
Negative calorie foods widely advertised in diet plans are foods that supposedly use more energy to digest than they provide in calories, thereby resulting in a calorie deficit.
Negative calorie foods widely advertised in diet plans are foods that supposedly use more energy to digest than they provide in calories, thereby resulting in a calorie deficit.
"Current average portion sizes are high in relation to calorie requirements and recommendations globally," said Roberts. "As three meals and one or more snacks in between is common, including in the countries we studied, large restaurant portions should be examined further for their potential role in the global obesity epidemic."
Meals from Brazil, China, Ghana, Finland and India were collected and analyzed between 2014 and 2017. Meal components were analyzed by bomb calorimetry.
Limitations of the study include limiting samples to entrees and not the beverages, appetizers, and desserts that can be consumed with meals prepared away from home, which means that the measurements likely underestimate how large restaurant meals are. Most of the reference U.S. data was collected more than three years before the data for other countries. The researchers also assumed that the size of meals ordered and collected was the same as those supplied to diners inside the restaurants, and samples were collected in a single urban center within each country.
Roberts is also a professor of nutrition at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University and a professor of psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine. She is continuing her global obesity work with the International Weight Control Registry.
Source-Eurekalert
